Mobile app will let California police check records from field

Kate Mather

California law enforcement officers will soon have access to a mobile app allowing them to check state and federal criminal databases from the field, officials announced Monday.

California Atty. Gen. Kamala D. Harris said the "JusticeMobile" app -- tested by more than 600 San Francisco police officers in recent months -- will be now be rolled out to agencies statewide. The Los Angeles Police Department plans to provide the app to 3,600 officers, the attorney general's office said.

Currently, officers in the field typically must call or radio department personnel for suspect or vehicle information, officials said. The app will allow officers to access the same databases on their own.

"We have mobile apps for everything from banking to board games on our phones," Harris said in a statement. "But, incredibly, law enforcement hasn't had the tools to access important criminal justice information on hand-helds and tablets until now."

California is the first to implement the program statewide, Harris spokesman Nick Pacilio said. The New York Police Department has used a similar mobile app since last year, but Pacilio said it only allows access to the NYPD's own records.

In a statement, San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee and Police Chief Greg Suhr called the app a "21st century tool" for law enforcement.